A King's yard

These stairs lead to the room where the King's office used to be. Many photos in Greek magazines featuring "family" moments of the royals in the 50's and '60s had the family sitting on them.
(See also previous posts)

..ante portas

This gate was the official entrance to the palace proper in Tatoi (see previous posts). On the right (not visible) is what remains from the guard's outpost. From this gate would pass every official visitor and on this spot stood the tanks which blocked the palace during the coup d' etat in 1967. (That is, until the moment when the King accepted their "government").

Today the estate is completely accessible to the public (except from any building) and is recommended trip for everyone visiting Athens.

Swimming pool for Kings

I wonder how many royals had dived in this swimming pool in the former royal palace in Tatoi. Now it's full of leaves and some graffiti.

Tatoi former Royal palace

This is where the ousted Greek royal family lived from 1871 to 1968. The palace is part of a large property, now confiscated by the state. The building is empty. Most objects, artifacts and precious items were taken by the former King over the years and many of them were auctioned in London some weeks ago.

The place is more than 15km out of Athens and is now part of Parnitha National Park and the whole area is open to the public. I, actually, met many tourists walking the area and many families trekking. The palace and all the other buildings are closed though.

More pictures to follow.

Read more in Wikipedia
See the area in Wikimapia

The automobile fields

This is Attiki Odos, the newest and fastest freeway in Athens. Today, it was just a an endless queue of cars due to Vladimir Putin´s visit. This road leads to the airport so the authorities saw it proper to close it entirely for 30 minutes till the motorcade of the departing Russian president reaches Athens Intl.
Well, it was an opportunity for the drivers to have a little socializing under the sun.

"300" World Premiere

Two days before the official release in Greece, the movie about the battle of Thermopylae was screened in a grand premiere in Athens. A whole multiplex (14 cinemas, about 2700 seats) was dedicated to Leonidas and his 300 men who fought the Persians in 480 B.C.

Of course, the movie is based on the "300" comic book which is loosely based on the actual battle. Some in Greece will yell against the "distorted history" but, well, it's just a movie.

P.S.
In the movie, King Xerxes of Persia is pronounced with a "Z". Please, it's X like X-box, not Z like in Xena. :-)

P.S. 2
Look how King Xerxes looked like and how he is depicted in the movie. Good thing this will never be released in Iran. :-)

A ride on the mountain

This is the teleferique of the Parnitha mountain. It lifts people to the Regency Casino (former Mont Parnes Hotel, alt. 1055m). It is brand new. The previous lift that was there for over 40 years was dismantled. Parnitha is the tallest mountain in Athens and is a protected forest and wild life area.
See the area in Wikimapia

Say goodbye to winter

First day of spring today. For scenes like this, we 'll have to wait till next winter (at least in this part of the world).

Winter colors

A little escape

Two hours drive out of Athens lies this beautiful artificial lake in Feneos, Korinth. The church was constructed there to commemorate the former position of a monastery which was forced to move upper in the mountain when the waters raised.
See the place in Wikimapia (you can zoom out to see where exactly in Greece it is)

Rime and mist

I guess the friends from the north are very familiar with scenes like this. But in Greece it's not something you see every day. This is what happens when the early morning mist freezes on the little branches when the temperatures gets below zero. Of course, this is a on a mountain.

Build it Up

For the past seven years, Athens is being rebuilt. No, they don't demolish the monstrous buildings in order to make new modern ones. They tear down beautiful old houses and villas in areas that were countryside but now they' re totally urban in order to build blocks of flats. The land now costs more that the old buildings themselves so the development companies take action. Of course, people who move into these new flats are borrowing the money from the banks. Millions of homes are already built in the greater Athens area and almost all of them are on heavy mortgage deals for 30 years or more.

At local market

Once a week, in almost every neighborhood in Athens a local market is being set up in 5 o'clock in the morning. They sell mostly vegetables and fruits but also fish, various small home objects and some clothing.
The basic idea behind these nomadic markets is that the farmers themselves can sell directly to the consumer, without anyone reselling in the middle. Therefore, the prices here are lower that those in super markets or the grocery's.
The market occupies an entire street. Motorcars can cross through the market and scenes like this are common.

At 13:00 in the afternoon, everyone packs everything and they go. Tomorrow they will sell somewhere else.

Athens DP is back

After what ended up as a small adventure with DSL access and my ISP, everything is up and running now and Athens DP is fully back online. Thanks everyone for the nice comments during that short break. Let's blog!

Athens DP is temporarily offline

Technical reasons, no DSL at home, force me to delay or stop the update of this blog for two to three weeks. (Dial up and photoblogging are a pain in the...line :-) ).

I plan to update from time to time (from wi-fi spots or Internet cafes), I 'll do my best. In two to three weeks time I expect to be fully online again and fully honor the word "daily" on the title.

See you around...

Ovelikios

Buy her a perfume

This is "Attica" the largest department store in central Athens. It's an old office building of the '30s covering an entire block, completely renovated and now dedicated exclusively to the gods of shopping.

This photo is from the late stages of the overhaul, hence the crane.

It's amazing how similar it looks with another department store in Tokyo. (See it here)

Cheer me up

Just a remnant from the holiday season, this clown is a much better version of the old circus clown.

Better or worse, most small kids that saw him were scared. That's how Stephen King finds his ideas. :-)

Meet Gwyneth

She was incognito but I found her :-)

Flower street

Early in the afternoon, minutes away from the city center. Beautiful flowers give a colorful tone in a winter day.

No respect

A more than common picture in Athens. It seems that there isn't a single one access ramp which is not blocked by a driving idiot.

Sailing the sun

From time to time I like to look at older photos just to be reminded of the summer. Here is an Aegean sunrise on the boat to Andros island.

When you have to go...

Just in case you need one when in Athens, here is what a public toilet looks like.

Acropolis...island

This beautiful neighborhood is Anafiotika, one of the first settlements in Athens just after the Greek Revolution of 1821. The first inhabitants were from the island of Anafi and, as they did in their own land, they settled just under the Acropolis. They brought their island architecture too so the result is something you could see in Aegean.

Tower of the Winds

It was built in the 2dn Century BC as a weather vane and water clock, and stands inside the Roman Agora. Its external frieze depicts faces of the eight winds. It seems that Athens back then was as hot as today and needed the winds to cool it down. Today we don't erect such monuments, we just turn on the AC. :-)

Dandy Cool

An unexpected meeting with a foppish salon. Extremely out of fashion but still respected style by some old fellas who were still young dudes when the coolest ride was the horse cart.

Bird on a stone

..it would had rest on a wire but everybody knows that ancient Athenians had gone wireless long ago :-)

Art...or something like it.

In Athens, many stores sell statuettes and souvenirs of ancient themes. Every Athenian finds them to be of bad taste but these stores are there for decades so they make money.

Would you buy something like this? What does your own city sell that you find ridiculous but tourists love it?

Chat De Garde

Hill of Ares

As the unsuspecting visitor approaches this place just below Acropolis, he sees what seems to be just a large rock. It is Areios Pagos, the oldest high degree court for homicides in Athens. Here used to be, also, an altar dedicated to goddess Athena.

It is also the place where, according to the Bible, apostle Paul did his preaching in 54 A.D. In Greece, the Christian religion had to step, literally, upon the ancient religion in order to expand.

Many people like to sit on the rock and enjoy the sunset. Every major Athens landmark is visible from here and Acropolis is just behind your shoulder.
Read More
...and some more

Happy New Year

Let's start the 2007 posting with a smile. Not from a child or a cute person but from a school gate. Which, apparently, also blinks an eye to us.

Greetings from Athens, the city where even doors are smiling.